Christian Churches New Jersey-Oasis Church NJ

(8.18.09)-Oasis Church is a New Jersey Christian church in the making, and I am really excited about what God has done so far. Sorry this update has taken so long, but as a tent-making church planter, my time with Oasis is limited to less than 15 hours per week. But right now as I write this, I am so overwhelmed with gratefulness for our TEAM and all the blessings of the last few months.

New Jersey Christian Church Summer

Update and Needs

Where do I begin? Well, some dude I met in person only twice wrote us a little check for $90,000 becauseÂ we communicated our vision to him, and he believed in us and our mission to compassionately share Jesus with hurting and hungry people here in Union County and all around the world! Mark, I want to thank you, and with Jesus’ help we will not disappoint!

We completed the Alpha course in late June 2009, and came out with four (4) healthy Connect Groups that have kept steam up through the Summer. I can’t believe we are getting over 40 people coming out weekly on a Sunday night for 2 hours in the dog days of Summer! I also can’t wait till we shift to monthly Sunday morning gatherings to see how many folks we can reach at that time.

After Alpha we challenged people to join our Launch Team in this crazy but thrilling New Jersey Church plant experience. I got tears in my eyes because it was so amazing to see these people, many still not believers, excitedly putting on Oasis T Shirts, wanting to become part of something big right here at the beginning. The end result is that we more than quadrupled our Oasis Launch team coming out of the Alpha Course. We are slowly discipling these people to become committed followers of Jesus.

Don’t think this has all been a bed of roses. We still have a ton of needs, and I’m hangin’ on to Jesus for dear life because I have no time. For starters, we are still “piss pot poor” as church plants go, and we’re short on Christian leadership for our systems, as most of our people are either pre-Christian or brand new believers. Additionally, although our launch date is still a ways off in 2010, we still need a worship leader who can play guitar, sing and be able to connect with Jesus and people in a passionate way. If any of you guys know of anybody like this, can you please give us a holler? Thanks.

Over all, this stuff (starting a church from scratch) is hard work, and not for those who lack faith, or can’t deal with the rejection and weekly ups and downs. In fact my advice to anyone desiring to plant a church is to get his head examined…unless he knows God has really called him. Otherwise, chances are he will end up in the nut house from a nervous breakdown, go bankrupt or both. I’m not planning on doing either, but I could sure use your prayers. Mathew 11:28 and out.